Trover: Location + Narrative
My thesis project at Parsons was called Trover, which is a platform for the iPhone that enables immersive, site-specific storytelling. New York filmmakers create brief video vignettes tied to specifc locations within the city, and these form an invisible layer of narrative content, ready to be harvested by users who have the Trover App installed on their location-aware iPhones. Contrary to other channels for user-generated video content, Trover is curated in order to ensure a rewarding experience for the user. The narrative is contextualized by the location and space, and both story and environment are then interpreted and experienced in new ways.
Below is my presenation at the MFADT Thesis Symposium.
Prototypes
Prototype: Union Square
Using the PhoneGap development platform, I was able to create a rough prototype to user test on the iPhone. I mapped various placeholder video clips to 5 sections of Union Square, and had classmates navigate the space and find the content. I learned several valuable things from this prototype, mostly technical in nature. More info on the prototype can be found in this blog post.
View Photos
Prototype: Instructional Video and Interface Mock Up
To close out the semester, I began to create an informative video that explained what Trover is all about. I didn't finish the animation, as I was persuaded by Chris that tonally, it didn't fit. I still feel the need to create a welcoming instruction set for the Trover webpage, but it's back to the drawing board for that. Also, I created an interface mockup in flash, which can be viewed below.
What is Trover? Video Intro | Interface Mock Up
Prototype: A Glass Nation
Rather than creating such a structured, linear narrative (as seen in the first prototype), the general concept for my second iteration was to create the world of the story and then populate it with various elements and vignettes. The setting of the story was in a dystopian society in which the internet is heavily monitored and censored. I am using the past tense because this concept has most likely gone by the wayside. More information about this prototype can be found in the Midterm Presentation below. One important element to note is, the entry into the story / game would be via a fake webpage for a documentary about this world. The trailer that would be housed on the webpage can be viewed here.
Prototype: Something Bad Happens
My prototype was a miniature, scaled-back version of a potential final project, using a “scavenger hunt” style of asset dispersal, where every element is already out there ready to find, and there is little to no direct communication with players. For my mini-thesis final project last semester in Major Studio: Narrative, I created three video assets that were crudely linked together on the web. After launching that project, and doing an extensive amount of research over the summer, I wanted to appropriate the clips into a more fully flushed out project, using various assets to fill in some of the gaps on the story.
I contacted Jan Libby, a solo independent alternate reality game developer, and received some general advice from her via email. Dave Szulborski’s book, This is Not a Game, was also incredibly helpful during the creation of this new prototype. I started by re-editing the video clips, and adding a soundtrack, which initially I was against, but I feel it made the content more digestible. I then created other assets (emails, voicemail, letters, webpages) that filled in some of the gaps in the story and connected everything together.
I will briefly walk through the narrative experience: to launch the project, I sent a cryptic email containing a puzzle to theBruce, a maven (to use a Malcolm Gladwell term) and prominent poster on the UnFiction forums, a community interested in playing Alternate Reality Games. As expected, he created a thread about it, and had solved the first puzzle, leading others to somethingbadhappens.com. This webpage contains a single video clip on a blank html page. In the video, a man enters a hotel room, bloody. He struggles to clean himself, makes a phone call, and then dies. We see the number that he dials, and when a player calls said number (866-596-4450), he hears the main characters voicemail, which contains a bit of morse code at the end. The morse code is decoded to letter.html, which leads the players to the next page. This webpage contains an image of a letter from the main character to another, discussing some problems he is having with his experiments. A puzzle using a Rot-10 decryption algorithm is contained in this letter, which leads to the second video clip. In this clip, a man is working on an electronic contraption in a hotel room. He makes a phone call, then hooks the device up to himself and flips the switch. In this video, a QR code image is contained on a single frame of the video, which decodes to onelastnote.html, which leads to another letter. This webpage contains a hand written note, which is neither addressed nor signed by anyone. The solution here is simply the last line of the letter, ‘this is the start of what was,’ which leads to the last video clip. The thread following this adventure on UnFiction can be found here. I also did a launch on the Something Awful forums after the game was already in progress, found here.
The way I chose to format this experiment was a direct result of my feedback from my final project in Major Studio: Narrative, the research I have done this summer, and personally playing several alternate reality games.
Papers
End of Semester Evaluation [December 2008]
This semester has been an engaging, thought provoking, and intense experience. I’ve learned a lot, about my project through research and experimentation, and about myself through the ebb and flow that is the thesis process.
The thesis component of the MFA program at Parsons encourages students to create projects that fit within three overarching domains: design, technology, and the human condition. Conveniently, the domains relevant to my thesis fit nicely into these three categories.
There are several key concepts in the domains I have researched throughout the semester that have been central to my experimentation. The overall theme of every domain I have researched boils down to finding a unique way to tell a story. Whether it’s a non-linear film, an experimental novel, a video-installation, or an alternate reality game, each precedent seeks to explore new and unconventional methods of narrative discourse. Although the form of my thesis has changed quite a bit, most notably after midterm presentations, the core concept – developing a unique method of narrative discourse – has remained unchanged.
Storytelling is at the core of the human experience, and stories are the fundamental way we communicate, connect, and relate to one another. Stories, specifically films, have resonated and moved me in ways no other art form can touch. This is the driving force behind my own work: to create a piece that will resonate with another individual.
I am also interested in the mechanics of narrative, and how technology has afforded us new opportunities for original ways to tell a story. I believe the progression of our culture has allowed us to digest increasingly complex and unconventional storytelling methods, and in turn has created a hunger for such stories.
Usability Brief [November 2008]
My current thesis concept is to curate a non-linear, narrative “scene festival” tied to locations in New York City. The project is entirely mobile, in which participants act as collective detectives in search of short video vignettes embedded within the city using location-aware iPhones.
Precedent Brief [October 2008]
The most salient precedent to my thesis, which I have been researching since the start of the summer, are alternate reality games, or ARGs. Although difficult to describe succinctly, Jane McGonigal (a leading figure in the field) is up to the task, describing an ARG as “an interactive drama played out online and in real-world spaces, taking place over several weeks or months, in which dozens, hundreds, thousands of players come together online, form collaborative social networks, and work together to solve a mystery or problem that would be absolutely impossible to solve alone.”
Experiment/Research Brief [September 2008]
My current thesis concept is to create an engaging, interactive narrative that uses the unique properties of the internet (non-linearity, multi-media, and collaboration) to tell the story. By acting as detectives and problem solvers, the audience will need to work together to gather every element (be it video, audio, text, or image) in order to assemble the story into a coherent whole.
Summer Research [September 2008]
For my thesis, I want to create a fictional narrative that uses the internet as its method of discourse. The story will revolve around a central character who lives in a dystopian society in which the internet is incredibly monitored and censored due to an “i-Patriot Act.” The narrative will unfold using the unique properties of the internet, such as fragmentation, non-linearity, hyperlinking, collaboration, and collective intelligence, in hopes of creating an immersive, engaging, and interactive experience.
Meta Fiction and Web Based Storytelling [May 2008]
Metafiction has been around at least since the 9th century, but has seen a resurgence in the second half of the 20th century and beyond. Know mainly as a characteristic of modern novels and films, metafiction has begun to find its footing on the internet. There are many wonderful examples of metafiction on the web – from inventive promotional techniques (The Blair Witch Project), to complex, fluid and ambiguous narratives relying on collective intelligent problem solving (I Love Bees), to direct audience participation and response (YouTube). One area that has been largely unexplored (in a metafictional context), however, is video based storytelling on the web. Few have been able to integrate this traditional format into the web, taking advantage of its unique properties.
Context and Domains
Precedents
Geocaching
"Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment."
Paris, Je T'Aime
"Paris, je t'aime (French for "Paris, I love you") is a 2006 film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities including American, British and French. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements. The 21 directors include Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, Joel and Ethan Coen, Gerard Depardieu, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Nobuhiro Suwa, Alexander Payne, Tom Tykwer, Walter Salles and Gus Van Sant."
Socialight
"Socialight is a location-based social media platform that lets people and editorial publishers connect rich media content to real-world physical locations. Its users can create, browse and share virtual "Sticky Notes" tied to any location worldwide. Socialight is used on mobile phones or web browsers."
Yellow Arrow
"Yellow Arrow is a global public art project of local experiences. Combining stickers, mobile phones and an international community, Yellow Arrow transforms the urban landscape into a "deep map" that expresses the personal histories and hidden secrets that live within our everyday spaces."
I Love Bees
"I Love Bees was an alternate reality game that served as both a real-world experience and viral marketing campaign for the release of developer Bungie's 2004 video game Halo 2. I Love Bees was first advertised by a subliminal message in a Halo 2 trailer; players who investigated the titular website discovered that the pages appeared to be hacked by a mysterious intelligence. As players solved puzzles, audio logs were posted to the ilovebees.com site which gradually revealed more of the fictional back-story, involving a marooned artificial intelligence stranded on Earth and its attempts to put itself back together."
Presentations
End of Semester Presentation
This is the final presentation I gave at the end of the Fall 2008 semester. In it, I discuss where I sit with my thesis project, the design questions I am attemping to address, and where I plan to go heading into the winter break and Spring semester.
View PDF | Launch Presentation | User Scenario | What is Trover? Video Intro | Interface Mock Up
New Idea Presentation
This is the first semi-formal presentation I gave to illustrate the new progress I had made since the midterm presentations. I discuss the new concept (curate a non-linear, narrative “scene festival” tied to locations in New York City) and discuss the User Scenarios.
View PDF | Launch Presentation | User Scenario 01 | User Scenario 02
Midterm Presentation
Here is the presentation I put together for midterm reviews. It contains slides for the 1st and 2nd prototypes, as well as precedents and the current state of my thesis.
Summer Research
Presentation given the first week of classes, covering the progress I made over the summer.
